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Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Watching Extreme Couponers for the first time
Original shopping trip $638. After coupons, $2.64.
This included 40 boxes of pasta and 40 jars of pasta sauce, and 20 2-liter bottles of A&W and 7-Up.
I have 2 comments:
1. This sh!t is not food.
2. Extreme Couponers is just Hoarders with better organization.
Re: Watching Extreme Couponers for the first time
I watched it for the first time today too! All my mom could say was that the food is all crap. Though I will say some of the home products would be nice to be stocked up on.
There was a vegan who bought a lot of soy milk and frozen veggies. I approve of her choices, but some people are buying 1726538 bags of cookies at the same time. You don't need that, even if it's free.
MIL said the same thing (there are no such thing as coupons in Norway).
The next lady was going on and on about how "healthy foods are available with coupons".
She got $230 for $6.32. This included a single fresh chicken, tons of bottled juice, Ritz crackers, some Bugles looking bagged snacks (do they make those any more?) and pancake mix.
This sh!t is. not. food!
Head exploding in 3...2...1.....
ETA: Chicken is food. The rest, not so much.
1,100 boxes of Total cereal in one trip.
It required a flat bed truck to bring home.
There wasn't one mention of donating it. I feel like they do a lot of prosthelytizing about couponing on this show, so if they intended to donate it I would expect them to say so.
Not to mention the shots of their houses being filled to the brim with stuff.
I really, really hope that stuff gets donated to people who need it. There is no way 1 person could use 40 sticks of deodorant before it went bad.
One dude got 300 toothbrushes. They must have been donated.
You can still get Bugles. I love those things because you could make witch hands. They even sold Bugles in Switzerland but they were imported from the UK oddly enough.
2012 Reading Challenge
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In Norway they have chocolate covered Bugles. Amazing. Can't say I ever noticed Bugles in the UK but then again I was too busy hoovering their amazing malted vinegar and caramelized red onion crisps down my gullet to notice much else.
Watched today too! I will say - it did kind of inspire me to use a few coupons now and then - but I would never stock up on food that I think we might be eating months from now. Many things, even processed or boxed does expire, no?! I also hate having too much of anything around so this wouldn't work for me - but I do like when they give it to charity rather than hoarding 300 bottles of soda in their basement.
I know a few women who do this - they definitely donate anything their family cannot use in a timely manner. Tes, they have a "stockpile" of things like cerea, pasta, laundry detergent, deodorant, toothpaste. But heck, I have that in my basement and I don't pay that little. I should probably start doing it! I buy two giant jugs of detergent at Costco whenever there is a coupon, I buy cereal when its on sale five boxes or more at a time. I buy meat on sale and freeze it.
I agree that a lot of it seems like crap but we were given a list of the wanted items for our local food bank and it was mostly stuff I wouldn't want to buy for my family but I can understand why it was the choice for the food bank - spam, canned vegetables, ketchup, pasta and hamburger helper type meals. Sure it would be great if the food bank could give out fresh meat and vegetables but I don't think they are usually equipped that way and it would be much more expensive for them to operate on a daily basis like that.
I think there ARE people who are just glorified hoarders who extreme coupon but I think there are also a lot of people who are doing a good thing by getting all that stuff for their local shelters/churches/food banks. And whatever, I like a good fast food burger and fries or bugles or chocolate chip cookie as much as the next person. I'm assuming these people still buy regular food to supplement but maybe that's just because the people I know do.
I'm sad to admit this, but I have watched a marathon of this show with my sister after I had the baby. They always mention those who are donating to food banks/military servicepeople and it is NOT most of the, by far. I remember several stories of those who SELL to their neighbors from the stockpile in the basement. And many of the couponers who spend 35-50 horus a week doing it. I guess for me that's just not time well spent, seeing as 'time is money' and all.
I think it also brings up an interesting point though...about hwo much SPACE peopel have in their homes in the US compared with so much of the world. It's amazing to me to imagine having a room or even an entire basement to stock up on food/home items.
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That's weird....I watched a marathon when I was back in the States in July, and the vast majority (maybe 75%) of people in those episodes DID donate. Might have just been the episodes that were aired. I specifically remember thinking, "Man, these people are absolutely nuts!" until they mentioned the donations, and almost every time they did mention it.
Wow, never heard of this show!
1. Bugles are not in the UK. I kind of forgot they existed until we were back in the states last summer and saw some at a gas station and I had to have them. I spent the entire car journey putting them on my fingers and giggling.
2. Enid - the space issue is interesting. I used to coupon when we were in Pgh, it was kind of a fun game to see what I could get for free. Ended up with a giant pantry of junk food which we donated most of when we left. I have absolutely no storage space now so couldn't do that here even if there were coupons.
3. I love the idea of donating the food this way. If we move back to the states, I'll have to remember that!
BFP Apr 2012, EDD Dec 19 2012 * twin h/b at 6wk, 9wk scan * Baby A lost at 12wks, Baby B was my rainbow born at 36wks
Since they started broadcasting it in NL I've watched it a couple of times. Mostly I think 'wow, they're crazy!', but I've really liked the ones where they said/showed they donate.
There is a lot of 'we used to go to the food bank/kids went to bed hungry, never want that to happen again, so I want a stockpile of stuff so my kids will always have something to eat'.
Also a lot of 'I have a coupon for 4 dollars off and it's on sale for 1 dollar, so I get 3 dollars back for every deodorant I buy, so I'm buying 120, which makes me 360 dollars which I can spend on meat, dairy and produce.
Since we don't have coupons in NL and my parents (in the US) NEVER use coupons (not even if there's a coupon dispenser by the product) I had no idea how much you could save. Since watching it I have started using/printing out coupons for stores like Michael's and such. Also, I pay a little more attention to sales in the US, as it does end up saving a whole lot (going on the right day saved me about 80 percent on some jewelry last November - suddenly I could afford to get nice stuff instead of cheap.)
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What I'm looking forward to in 2012:
Eating our way through (northern) Italy on vacation
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